| Description |
“Pallium fragment. The fragment has a tan ground and a large, purplish black roundel. The roundel has a border of small circles separated by pairs of smaller circles. Its center is filled by regularly spaced clusters of nine dots each. The entire fragment is weft loop pile carried out in linen and wool, 20 x 11 [warp : weft per square cm], on a linen warp. Every fourth shot in the area of the motif is a weft bundle. Dyed wool threads added to the motif area form the colored pile. Every seventh and eighth shot is a weft bundle but only the eighth shot provides pile. The pile was formed by looping sections of the weft around a smooth rod. The size of the rod was determined by the depth of pile desired. The pile surface of [this specimen] is velvet-like in areas with wool weft, rougher, like bath-toweling (sic), in the all-linen portion. All yarn is S-twist. Fifth or early sixth century. Remarks: As mentioned [in other descriptions], white pallia with large purple medallions were worn by dignitaries of church and state in the fifth and sixth centuries. Wear marks on this example indicate that it may have been worn inside-out, perhaps after having been discarded by the original, distinguished owner, or used as a chair or couch cover. The technique for weaving a textile with a pile surface evolved in Dynastic Egypt. Riefstahl [1941 or 1944] cites an eleventh-dynasty example found at Deir el-Bahri (1944:17, fig. 19), which already shows a perfect grasp of the method. The technique is an important one for the region. See Bellinger (1956). The textiles in this group [DL Carroll # 1-16 (CAS 0389-2375, -2376, -2377, -2394, -2397, -2398, -2402, -2403, -2406, -2407, -2413, -2421, -2425, -2426, -2583, -2586)] are the earliest in the collection and belong to the period dominated by Rome. A number of them represent types of garments that could have indicated social rank or would have been appropriate wear for persons with high positions in the extensive bureaucracy of the period.†[From Looms and Textiles of the Copts by Diane Lee Carroll (San Francisco, CA: Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences, No. 11, 1988); Catalog # 11, pp. 82, 96-97.] |
